Survey says: My costs will go up!

By Michael Johnsen

Costs are the biggest concern for opponents of healthcare reform. They’ve done the math — additional healthcare consumers means care that’s both more expensive and harder to come by. As many as 3-in-4 consumers who are not big fans of healthcare reform share that concern — 30% of those consumers suggested it’s their greatest concern, according to an exclusive survey of nearly 800 patients conducted by AccentHealth and DSN in late July and early August. A reduction in care quality was concern No. 2 (62%), and a lack of choice over which practitioner to see was concern No. 3 (58%). And little more than half were more concerned about the big picture — healthcare reform will make America go bust. But at least they’ll still be covered — only 22% said they were concerned their employers would stop the coverage.

Patient Views is a new, exclusive consumer insights feature that will be appear in every edition of DSN magazine and the daily e-newsletter DSN A.M. If you could ask 4,000 patients anything at all, what would it be? Send your questions to reder@lf.com.